Auroshikha True to Nature Incense - five scents plus one

 

Auroshikha was founded as an incense company in 1973 in Pondicherry, India, and is a part of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. They claim to have good working practises, and abide by the guidelines of the International Fragrance Association,  in Geneva. I tried the Marbled Auroshikha back in 2014 and wasn't impressed - I felt they were quite solvent and chemical despite the claims of purity and essential oil.

True To Nature Incense

Incense Fragrances that delicately project a scent that is "True to Nature". Auroshikha is different than any other incense you may have tried because it is carefully crafted using essential oils, herbs, and tree bark to create a fragrance that is true to nature. The result is a selection of the finest scents in the world, with the delicacy and beauty of the original fragrance itself. Whether you are using sandalwood with it’s earthy, heady, woody note, or rose, with its rich floral sweetness, you are getting a fragrance that will remind you of the source, without chemical fragrance overtones or after-notes, and without the heavy smoke associated with many other brands. This creates an atmosphere of delight and freshness wherever you choose to burn Auroshikha incense.

I came upon the True to Nature range on an American website. I'd not previously seen this range which seems exclusive to an American company (Aroma Int.). 

 

I was curious and wondered if they were an improvement on the Marbled product, and ordered some in order to find out what they were like. I'm now thinking that they are the Marbled incense, but repackaged for Aroma Int.  There are at least 30 fragrances in the True to Nature range, and at least 60 in the Marbled range.  With some shared names like Morning Dew. 

 

Auroshikha are keen to emphasis the traditional and pure nature of their incense production. They stress that their incense is hand rolled rather than machine made. In my experience I find no olfactory difference. I've heard various claims, though nothing substantiated either by research or by my own experiences. There is a consistency with machine made joss sticks which is satisfactory. And writing that sentence has put me in mind of the debates between those who like traditional cask beer and those who like modern keg beer. With modern, unfiltered keg beer which is kept in a bag inside the keg so it remains fresh and naturally carbonated, there is no taste difference, and the keg beer will stay fresh and stable for much longer. However, there is romance and tradition attached to cask beer that makes it desirable for some (me included). And I think that's the case with incense. Machine made incense is actually more practical, but there is some sense of tradition and romance and human connection lost.  

The marketing claims

There is a degree (as is usual with most commercial concerns, be they selling cars, beer, or incense) of flannel or misdirection in their statements. The statement that the ingredients are "as per the guidelines of the International Fragrance Association" means less than it suggests, as the IFA guidelines relate to both natural and synthetic fragrances, so does not indicate the quality or naturalness of the incense - merely that the fragrance will be safe. In general, the harm that comes from breathing in incense comes from the woods, combustibles, and binders rather than the fragrance ingredients.  Anyway, this incense is "guaranteed non-toxic", which of course in nonsense because incense smoke contains PM2.5. - as explained here. 

Right, enough about the irritating and misleading  marketing spiel, on with the incense burning....

The Amber contains "essential oils of bergamot, citrus, and resinoid labdanum (a tree resin)".  Amber when related to fragrance is not the "fossil resin" mentioned in the blurb above, that amber is hard as stone, and is used for jewellery.  The musky, earthy, fragrant amber is ambergris, a waxy digestive substance that is occasionally expelled by a whale and is washed ashore. As it ages it develops a desirable musky scent, while also being useful as a perfume fixative in a similar way that halmaddi is. These days ambergris is rarely used in perfumes or incense - substitutes (natural or synthetic) are used instead.  The labdanum mentioned in the blurb, is a common natural substitute. It is a a fascinating substance - the resin of the rock rose shrub  would ooze out of the branches in such small amounts it was collected by combing the coats of goats and sheep who brushed against the shrub, or by hitting the bush with a leather flail. Labdanum was a prized incense in Ancient Egyptian, and is mentioned in the Bible. It is thought that some of the symbols associated with Pharaohs, such as the false beards and the flail, may be linked to the harvesting of labdanum. These days the branches and leaves are boiled to extract the resin.  

 

The appearance of the sticks is that of a perfumed-charcoal or perfume-dipped incense. A charcoal based paste, now very dry and crumbly, has been hand-rolled onto a plain hand-cut bamboo splint. There is a volatility to the stick which indicates that a liquid fragrance, an essential oil or fragrant oil or perfume or a combination, has been used. The scent is a little dark with some bitterness, perhaps dark chocolate, and some pine, and some varnish and a bit of rubber - though it is mostly the alcohol-type fumes that dominate. It is not an encouraging invite. 

When lit there is an off-putting amount of black smoke; though this does quickly settle into a more promising and normal grey. The scent is very mild. We've burned it a number of times and been somewhat underwhelmed each time.  It's not just that the scent does not make itself felt in the room, it's also that when you waft the smoke under your nose (which I recommend you should NOT do because it is harmful) there is little fragrance other than smoke. We get the sense of smoke and burning, but very little of the  bergamot, citrus, and labdanum. This presents and burns like a bargain basement perfumed-charcoal joss-stick. To be fair it is not unpleasant and there is a vague warmth about the smoke, while some of those dubious lower end bargain basement sticks can be foul like burning damp cardboard, but there's not a lot going on here to be truly positive about. The way the stick burns with little threads remaining, suggests that the charcoal is made from coconut fibres rather than wood. This is a positive as coconut charcoal is better for the environment; though, in my experience, I find some coconut charcoal joss sticks burn too hot, so the fragrance oils burn off too quickly (which is possibly what is happening here). I think there is a period of adjustment as incense makers adapt to using coconut charcoal, and finding the right formulation.  

This is not an unappealing stick, but there is little here to recommend as it does so little. The best use would be for inhibiting flies in the room at a time when you don't wish to have the room smell too much of incense.  Score: 20 

Frangipani (Champa) uses "essential oils of ylang ylang and geranium" rather than frangipani oil (which is made from the waxy petals of plumeria). The term "champa" is one that seems to vary on use. It doesn't appear to refer to a way of making incense nor a style, but to a scent, rather like nag champa refers to a scent. Champa when used alone appears to refer to plumeria / frangipani, though when nag is put in front, as in Nag Champa, it refers to champaca, a plant in the magnolia family.  So the "Champa" part of the name in brackets is indicating that champa is another name for frangipani. But why they then use ylang ylang and geranium rather than frangipani oil is a little odd. I got out my essential oils and noticed that while I have ylang ylang and geranium, I don't have frangipani - so I looked at prices, and noted that frangipani oil is more expensive - generally around twice the price.  Ho hum. 

 

As with the Amber the appearance is of perfume-dipped charcoal joss sticks. The scent, however, is not so volatile or alcohol based as the Amber sticks, though is certainly quite crisp and cold, though it does warm up after a while. It's a kind of woody floral scent, closer to the geranium of my essential oils than the ylang ylang. It's sort of serious and sombre, with more mineral than floral notes. It's quite engaging though, and more promising than the Amber. 

The scent on burning is quite light though has floral elements.  Like the Amber there really isn't a lot going on, and I get as much of a warm smoke aroma as I do floral notes, and sometimes rather more of the smoke aroma. This is not an impressive incense. Score: 20 

Morning Dew contains oils of bergamot, cedar wood and oakmoss. So I'd expect something citric, sharp, yet woody. 

 

The sticks are inconsistent in size, indicating indifferent quality control. The more and more I am exploring this True to Nature range, the more and more I am getting the impression that this range is not really worth much. And I'm more and more convinced that this range is just the Marbled range repackaged. The production method and overall quality is the same. The scent on the sticks, as here, are always sharp. And though there may well be some essential oils in the perfume mix, I wouldn't be surprised if some amount of "agarbatti oil", which is usually diethyl phthalate (DEP), is used in order to fix and enhance the perfumes (as halmaddi does), which keeps down the cost as less perfume oils then need to be used. 

The scent on the stick is not pleasant, it is more chemical than natural. It just smells like a solvent. When burned there is a familiar story of a weak aroma, which is more of smoke (and solvent) than of anything like the named oils. It is a bit woody, and is not actually offensive, but there is really little here worth sniffing.  It smells synthetic. It's all quite sad really. For all the claims the company are making about purity and nature, the end result is a product which is significantly inferior to boldly and proudly perfume-based incenses such as HEM.  Score: 20 

Sandalwood contains sandalwood powder in addition to sandalwood oil, so has a more pleasing appearance. The charcoal paste has been coated with the wood powder, which as it is fragrant is called a noorva (if it wasn't fragrant, intended just to dry the paste, it appears it would be called a melnoorva). This gives it the appearance of a masala stick, though the common understanding of masala is that it would be a blend of fragrant ingredients, rather than just one. 

 

This is the first of the sticks to actually smell nice.  Its a candy sweet scent, quite sugary - a pink sugar. A touch of vanilla. If this was a bun, it would be delicious. It is, though, another hot burn, and most of that delicious sweet scent on the stick just gets lost when burning, and it ends up smelling of damp wood smouldering. There are other odd notes such as cabbage and rubber. All in all, quite disappointing after the promise of the stick. And odd that this one ends up smelling worse than the others. Now and again some sandalwood does come through, but this is an inconsistent burn, and all in all, not one I have warmed to.  Score: 18  

Frankincense contains "gum benzoin, frankincense, and resinoid olibanum". This may be a case of poor translation because frankincense and olibanum are different words for the same thing; though I think it could be that the intention was to signify that the incense contains essential oils made from Indian frankincense and also Arabian frankincense.  

 

This is the most attractive looking of the sticks. It has the appearance of a proper masala incense. Sadly there is really minimal scent on the stick. Get my nose up close and I get some Band Aid or Germolene, and perhaps a bit of mineral. On the burn there is a burning wood or greenery smell. Not bad, but also not good - it's a fairly neutral woody scent. Ah, it gets better - some spice, some warm wool. Yeah, it's OK.  Not great, but acceptable lower end everyday masala. It is the most masala smelling of all the incenses in this selection. There is the sense of halmaddi about this. I had a look at my review for the Marbled Auroshikha Frankincense, and I feel confident that the sticks are the same. The Marbled version has the subtitle "Peace Maddipal" - maddipal is an odd word, though it seems to indicate Indian frankincense, which would make sense. 

This is not a quality incense, though it is warm and reasonably pleasant, and is certainly the best of the Auroshikha incenses I have tried. Score: 25

I'm scoring these as a group as I think they are much of a muchness, despite the Frankincense being a little better than the others, and I have already reviewed that individual under it's Marbled packaging.  On the whole I feel these are mainly lower end perfumed-charcoal, and not worth much. 

Date: Feb 2023   Overall score: 20 

  

Found another packet of True to Nature in my collection. This one is Floral Musk, and I quite like it. This is a perfumed charcoal incense ("rolled by hand in the traditional way" - as though that claim means anything), which has an attractive fresh floral scent - rather more lavender than the geranium mentioned on the packet, though it does have the soft citric, earthy green, and fruit qualities  that a geranium has. On the burn the warm, musky base gently supports and enriches the earthy floral character. The blend is attractive. 

The sticks are doubled sealed in the pack - one sealed packet inside another inside the cardboard sleeve, which would help keep the perfume fresh.  

I like this. Not hugely. It's not something I like enough to buy again, but I'm quite happy to light up a stick or two casually as an everyday room freshener. For me the combination of geranium and patchouli works. I've been burning this a fair bit in the outhouse over the past few days.  Yes, this is top end Everyday incense, just nudging Decent. 

I've bumped up the overall score for the True to Nature collection from 20 to 22

Date: April 2023   Score: 29  

Date: April 2023  Overall score: 22

Auroshikha Incense